Following the increment from N138.62 to N151.56, petrol marketers raised the price of petrol from N148 to between N158 and N162 per litre.
Speaking with reporters in Abuja on Thursday, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said the federal government is not in charge of fixing the prices of petroleum products in the country.
The minister said it is unfortunate that citizens are blaming the government for the increase, adding that the focus of the authorities is to protect the interest of citizens.
“Government is no longer in the business of fixing prices for petroleum products, we have stepped back,” NAN quoted him as saying.
“Our focus now is on protecting the interest of the consumers and making sure that marketers are not profiteering.
Sylva noted that the deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector and the removal of subsidy was not a political decision, but had become inevitable, especially with the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, the low crude oil prices and curtailing of Nigeria’s production output by OPEC, which had constrained government’s revenue.
He said: “It became necessary that the country cannot sustain subsidy payments, hence the decision to deregulate. Government has stopped subsidizing petrol at the pump, but will now play its traditional role of protecting consumers from exploitation, by ensuring that marketers do not profiteer at the expense of ordinary Nigerians and consumers of the product.
“We are no longer in the business of fixing prices; we have stepped back and allowed market forces to determine the prices. Henceforth, if crude oil price go up or down, it would reflect at the pumps.
“This is about the survival of the country and there are certain things the country can afford at this time. We have cut production to 1.412 million barrels, which had halved our earnings.”
He added that the revenue that is currently available to the government had reduced considerably, and has raised the question of where would the government get the money to pay subsidy.
“It is a necessary policy; we would get over this initial pain, with time, we would get past it,” Sylva maintained.
He further explained that the savings of about N1 trillion since the removal of subsidy comes from the expulsion of N500 billion earmarked for subsidy payment in the 2020 budget and the removal of foreign exchange differentials, which saved the country around N500 billion also.
